Childhood
Lee Shu Hui
Colour pencils
2010

About the Artwork
This artwork depicts a boy on a swing. A lollipop stick hangs from his mouth. Behind him, a yellow sun rises in a mild sky tinged with red. Beside the swing, a soft toy lies in a field of lush green grass. Toward the bottom right, the colours of the grass softly fade away in a mild Polaroid effect. The light source in the artwork is coming from the direction of the sun, which is diagonally behind the boy. Linear perspective has been used to create the illusion of the boy appearing closer to the viewer than the swings are.
Mainly warm colours have been used, like the shades of brown for the swing, the peachy skin tone of the boy, the vibrant yellow colour of the soft toy and the sun, the yellowish-green of the grass, and the red of the clouds and halo surrounding the sun. Pencil strokes are a mixture of rough and smooth, so as to bring out certain textures, like the roughness of the strokes for the boy's shirt, compared to the soft smooth strokes for the soft toy.

The striking bright red colour of the boy's shirt contrasts with the deep blue of his shorts. This striking contrast brings the viewer's eye toward the boy in the artwork. Also, the dark brown tones of the swing contrasts with the light blue sky. The ropes of the swing stretch upwards toward the top of the artwork, which allows the viewer's eye to travel around the artwork. There is a sense of movement in the artwork as a slight breeze appears to be blowing from the viewer's right hand side, which can be perceived from the direction at which the field of grass is bent towards. The boy's hair is also slightly ruffled towards the viewer's left, according to the direction of the wind. The composition of the artwork is not balanced, and concentrates toward the left. The boy and the swing dominates the entire left side of the artwork. This places emphasis on the boy, and what he is doing.

The lollipop stick in the boy's mouth might be showing the artist's impression of the sweetness of childhood, even as a lollipop is delightfully pleasing to the taste buds. The light breeze blowing could be portraying the artist's perception that childhood is gentle, and also could signify freedom. The two birds flying far off in the horizon also might show the freedom and lightness of childhood, as birds are lightweight, and fly freely in the sky. The soft toy lying in the grass could signify the innocence reminiscent of childhood.

This artwork is similar to the theme "Light" as it contains the sweetness, innocence and carefree-ness of childhood, which, in other words, portrays the lightness of childhood.

How I Did It
I did this with colour pencils.


Why I Did It

I wanted to portray innocence in childhood, a life devoid of care. I missed my childhood, and that brought me back, brought me to think about little children, led me to depict them and to imagine a place free. To just be free from all sorrow, all trouble - back when the hardship we knew was not the hardship to us now, and the joys of life were much simpler, when "the sun was shining" meant it was another day out in the playground, and when the world was viewed with eyes brimming with curiosity and not yet dimmed by dust.